Sponsor a Summer Internship for Talented High School Students

Looking for a summer intern?

Our teens are special. All of them have launched and tested one or more business ideas for social good. They bring entrepreneurial and business training and experience, plus skills in customer service, professionalism, accountability, collaboration, and teamwork.

Sponsor an intern

All of our teens come armed with some level of entrepreneurial training and experience. They’ll be ready to contribute to your organization from day one.

  • Internship period: June 24, 2024 – August 23, 2024
  • Deadline to request an intern: May 1, 2024
  • Intern match notification: June 4, 2024
  • Internship sponsor orientation: June 4, 2024
  • End of Internship Celebration showcase: August 23, 2024

Hear from former business internship sponsors

Need a reason to sponsor a summer internship for teens?

When you participate in our internship program, you provide the opportunity for a teen to develop skills, make connections, strengthen their resume, and experience entrepreneurship first-hand. Here are five other reasons why you should consider joining the program.

Our teens come armed with entrepreneurial experience

Teen interns often lack experience in the field in which they’re hired. However, our teens have first-hand experience designing, piloting, and testing at least one revenue-generating business idea. Some have even gone through multiple business iterations based on product or service testing.

An intern can free up your staff to pursue higher-level tasks

Bringing on an intern will provide an extra set of hands. This offers more freedom for professional staff to accomplish or pursue tasks that require higher-level, strategic thinking.

You’ll directly contribute to a teen’s financial and educational future

When teens complete our internship program, they receive a paid stipend plus earned high school and college credits. These benefits are significant for our teens, who are largely students of color from low-income families without college experience.

You’ll positively impact a teen’s immediate and long-term future

Hiring a teen intern is an excellent way to give back to your community. It not only helps a teen in your community enhance a career opportunity, but also builds an entrepreneur talent pipeline in the city, and gives your business access to a diverse future talent pool.

You won’t be alone

As an internship sponsor, you’ll have the support of a dedicated Internship Coordinator to help you and your intern make the best of the experience.

Meet our past interns

Starting Block Madison

Meghan

Working at the Spark building this summer was amazing. I was exposed to all sorts of different start-up companies, from IT-focused app designers to lab grown diamond companies. I think this opened up my eyes to the possibility of starting my own business at a small scale.

Hope and a Future neighborhood

Dante

My time at Hope & A Future was definitely a perspective-changing internship. Although I was there to learn and help with business aspects, I broadened my outlook on how the world and generations interact. Not only did I learn so much about the reality of business, but I saw firsthand the social change in intergenerational work.

2022 Internship Sponsors

Encourage young entrepreneurs

Give a tax-deductible full or partial scholarship to allow a deserving teen to participate in one of our These Teens Mean Busine$$ programs.

Encourage Young Entrepreneurs

Bring our youth entrepreneurship programs to your school or organization

We can offer customized These Teens Mean Busine$$ programming to community organizations and schools looking to launch youth-run businesses within their facilities. Get in touch to learn more or download the information packet below.

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